Public clinics are suddenly overwhelmed, as patients newly unable
to afford private clinics flock to them.

At the same time, drug companies are refusing to stock Greek
hospitals, which owe them millions and are often out of things as
basic as toilet paper; and pharmacies are demanding that even
insured customers pay the full price of their drugs in cash, wary
of seeing any reimbursement from the government.

"The whole system is a mess right now," one doctor says. "In a
six-hour shift, I am seeing 40 patients, which is ridiculous."

The overflow is affecting patients’ care—one anesthesiologist
reports that breast cancer patients are being forced to wait
three months to have tumors removed.

“Waiting that long can be life or death,” she says. Government
officials say they’re aware of the problems, and hope to start
addressing them next year—even as the law mandates another $915
million in cuts.